Interfaces is a community initiative that works to nurture and amplify marginalized artists in the Austin, Texas area through IDEA-conscious arts programming.

We envision a world where artists value difference, accountability, and evolution that both surpasses capitalistic standards of worth and contributes positively to communities.

Find us on Instagram @atx_interfaces

Image Description: Shivangi – a brown skinned, physically disabled femme – is sitting on tiled floor, in front of their art wall with LED lights. One of their hands is on the floor and the other is on their lap. They are wearing a loose fitting dress, a long heart shaped necklace and hoop earrings.

Story: Shivangi is a queer and disabled activist and artist with a collective called Determined Art Movement (D.A.M.). They work as a consultant, researcher, writer, advisor and facilitator with an emphasis on advocacy for disability, sexuality, gender, policy, content creation and accessibility.

From New Delhi, India, they love making silly forms of art, ranting about justice, getting tattoos, doing witchy things and graffiti all over their room. Their chosen family consists of their cat Mia and partner Nikita who is neurodivergent, trans and a super witch!

Their art practice involves writing, creating zines, painting on big and unique surfaces like their walls, prosthetic shoes, wheelchairs and making a mess! They didn’t grow up with art around them except in their own imagination. They didn’t study or learn it either. Art came to them from a place of desperation, survival, wanting to be heard and wanting to be in community. They are constantly growing and learning as an artist.

They believe that art and art tools should be accessible and affordable specifically for underrepresented and marginalized communities. They like to use the various forms of art for social justice, collective organising, live documentation of political narratives and radical thoughts.

Find them on instagram and twitter @DisabledSpice

Image Description: a photo of a quilt made using Tula Pink “monkey wrench” fabrics in many colors on a sewing machine being quilted.

Rebel Black, ki/kin/kins and they/them/theirs pronouns is a disabled Black and european zami witch. They use artistic practices such as quilting to connect with kin ancestors and weave together and heal intergenerational traumas.

Ki also enjoys basket weaving, knitting, and jewelry making, all traditional “women’s work” or “craft,” which they instead consider art.

Image description: Fabulous fat indigenous person wearing a sparkly dress and fur, with red cat-eye sunglasses and long hair stands in front of a painting of buffalo.

Shilo George is a disabled artist, culture bearer, and justice producer.

Shilo—who identifies as mixed-race Indigenous, queer, and a person of size—is a social worker with more than twenty years of experience and a master’s degree in adult learning and education from Portland State University. With values rooted in Native cultural and spiritual practices, Shilo praises her communities as the sources of her inspiration, resiliency, and drive.

While seeking her graduate degree, Shilo found herself confronted with depression and in a state of despair, as though she had fallen in a “deep dark hole.” She couldn’t find her way out—therapy, medication, nothing seemed to help. In this time of desperation, she called on her ancestors for help. They answered, encouraging the use of her creative skills to build a way out of the darkness. From this her healing framework, the Body Sovereignty Project, was born.

Drawing from her experiences as a survivor of abuse, Shilo created the Body Sovereignty Project as a trauma-informed framework that focuses on healing relationships with food, being in-body for movement, and healing around sexual trauma. Realizing the positive impact the Body Sovereignty Project could have in her communities, Shilo sought opportunities to share the framework and increase the availability of equitable health care for deviant body types.

My Instagram is @shilogeorge